Texas Longhorns bow out of Big 12 tournament with 8-7 loss to Cincinnati Bearcats

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas is out of the Big 12 Conference baseball tournament.

The Longhorns (35-22) moved the tying run into scoring position in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t bring it around in an 8-7 loss to Cincinnati on Wednesday at Globe Life Field. The loss eliminated third-seeded Texas from the tournament following Tuesday’s loss to Texas Tech.

After the Bearcats plated four runs in the top of the eighth to take what felt like a commanding 8-3 lead, Texas scored four of its own in the bottom half. Jack O’Dowd drove in one with a groundout and Jalin Flores ripped a double to left field to score a pair and Peyton Powell got the Longhorns within a run with an RBI single. That was as close as they’d get, however.

Kimble Schuessler started the ninth with a single then was lifted for Jayden Duplantier as a pinch runner. Casey Borba, pinch-hitting for Dee Kennedy, moved Duplantier to second with a sacrifice bunt to put the tying run in scoring position with one out. Rylan Galvan grounded out to the shortstop and then Will Gasparino swung at the first pitch and flew out to left field to end the game.

In two games, Texas left 20 runners on base and hit 4 for 22 with runners in scoring position. That’s simply not going to get it done in a tournament setting, head coach David Pierce said.

“For whatever reason, we just haven’t played well in this tournament,” he said. “We were really ugly, but we still put ourselves in a position to win the game. We’re disappointed right now but we’ve got to get back to work.”

Cincinnati scored two runs in the sixth thanks to sloppy defense by Texas. O’Dowd booted a Josh Hegeman hot-shot that was generously scored a hit, then Hegeman swiped second base. Jalin Flores had a one-hopper glance off his glove, allowing Tommy O’Connor to reach and then steal second. Landyn Vidourek made Texas pay with a 2-run single to give the Bearcats a 4-3 lead.

Lebarron Johnson Jr. appeared in a relief role for the Longhorns and allowed a 3-run home run to Kerrington Cross in the eighth. Johnson issued a pair of walks to start the frame then struck out Vidourek, but then Cross blasted a towering shot way over the left field wall to give Cincinnati a 7-3 lead.

Max Belyeu hit a 2-run homer in the fourth to tie the game at 2-2, then Gasparino followed it with an RBI double to give Texas a 3-2 lead early.

Globe Life Field hasn’t been kind to UT over the past four seasons. The Longhorns are 7-15 in the Texas Rangers’ ballpark and this is the second consecutive year the club went 0-2 in the conference tournament. The hiccup shouldn’t keep the Longhorns out of the NCAA tournament, but it could knock them down a seed line if the selection committee didn’t like what they saw. Pierce said he thinks the team has done enough to keep playing.

“I think we’ve done plenty to make sure we’ve secured a regional going into this tournament. Our resume says that,” he said.

The selection committee releases the bracket NCAA tournament Monday, and the latest projections by D1Baseball.com have Texas as a No. 2 seed in the Fayetteville regional with No. 5 national seed Arkansas, Troy and Saint Louis. That’s an educated guess at best, so the Longhorns will have to sweat it for a few days before they know where they’ll play.